CITY OF SAN FERNANDO -- Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Central Luzon Regional Office announced Tuesday that the issuance of passports will now be on a quota system, limited to 400 applications per day.
DFA Regional Director Asuncion Florentin said the limit stems from the use of a new system in the issuance of the new, globally standard compliant e-passport where the processing takes longer than usual, this time taking around eight to 10 minutes.
The e-passport system started last March 8.
“Because of this new system where everything in the integrated chip like biometrics, fingerprint verification and the integrated photograph, we had to set a quota of only 400 per day. The applications we are now processing has been cut by 300. Before, we were processing around 800 applications per day,” she said.
However, Florentin told Sun.Star Pampanga that the e-passport has distinct advantages. For instance, it is compliant to standards of 60 countries worldwide.
So far, she said there are no complaints from passport seekers regarding the new system. The fees for the processing and issuance of e-passports range from P950 for the regular and P1,200 for overtime passports.
For replacement of loss e-passports, fees range from P1,300 for regular and P1,550 for overtime.
“The most important thing our passport applicants should remember is that they should get their appointments prior to coming here. For their convenience, they could call us at or email us,” Florentin said, adding that this would prevent long lines and the “camping in” of applicants eager to be ahead in the processing desks.
Applicants could call the DFA at (045) 455 2475 (8:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. only) or email their intents to rcopampappointments@yahoo.com. (Jovi T. De Leon)